Telling is Not Teaching, Even in the SI
Leader Training
John S. Peters, Ph.D.
College of Charleston, SC
This presentation will be
made available at the end
of the session 
To do for this session!
 Sit in groups of 3-4
 Get out a sheet of notebook paper.
 If you have a cell phone or tablet with
internet access please get it out.
• WiFi password is umkc514 for Westin
Meeting Rooms
• Cell phones should be in silent mode.
How can we help our SI Leaders to
 overcome their reticence to facilitate
group work?
 understand and internalize the
benefits of collaborative learning?
 facilitate effective group learning
sessions?
 avoid “lecturing” during SI sessions?
The Helping Puzzle
Helping Puzzle
Picture #1 – Lecture
1. The picture is a large circle whose diameter is approximately ½ the width of a
standard notebook page and centered on a page oriented in landscape.
2. There are 4 rectangles at the north, south, east and west points of the circle that
protrude outward from the circle. The longer side of each rectangle is one-fourth
the diameter of the circle. The shorter side is ½ the length of the longer side & it
is the shorter side of each rectangle that is tangent to the circle.
3. Inside the circle is an isosceles triangle. The bottom two points of the triangle
intersect with the larger circle at points that are about 1/2 the distance from the
west to south rectangles, and east to south rectangles respectively. The top of the
triangle protrudes out of the larger circle and forms a small triangle inside the
north rectangle.
4. Inside the triangle there are three overlapping circles that form a triangular shaped
Venn diagram. Each circle in the Venn diagram has a diameter that is
approximately 1/3 the diameter of the outer circle, and has two points that are
tangent to the outer triangle. The center of the Venn diagram is the center of the
larger outer circle.
Puzzle #1
• Large circle whose diameter is approximately ½
the width of a standard notebook page.
• 4 rectangles at the north, south, east and
west points of the circle.
• Rectangles protrude outward from the
circle.
• Width of the longer side is ¼ the diameter
of the circle & the shorter side is ½ the
length of the longer side.
• Shorter side of each rectangle is tangent to
the circle.
• Inside the circle is an isosceles triangle.
• Bottom two points of the triangle
intersect with the larger circle at points
~1/2 the distance from the west to south
rectangles, and east to south outer
rectangles respectively.
• Top of triangle protrudes out of the larger
circle and forms a small triangle inside the
north rectangle.
• Inside the triangle are three overlapping
circles of equal diameter forming a Venn
diagram.
• Venn diagram circles = ~1/3 diameter of
outer circle, and each has two points that
are tangent to the outer triangle.
• Center of the Venn diagram is the center of
the outer circle.
On a scale of 1-4 rate how confident
are you that the puzzle picture you
drew is correct?
1= not at all confident
2= only a little confident
3= confident
4= very confident
Puzzle #2
• There are three diamonds of equal size lined up side by side across the
center of a notebook page oriented landscape. The middle diamond is
in the exact center of the page, and its east and west points touch the
corresponding points of each adjacent diamond. The total width of the
three diamonds is about three-fifths the width of the page.
• Below the three diamonds are two circles whose diameters are equal
to the length of one side of one of the diamonds. The two circles are
tucked up inside the two partial triangles that form from the meeting
of the three diamonds. Each of these two circles is almost, but not
quite, tangent to the lines forming the bottom of the diamonds above.
Inside each of these two circles are equilateral triangles, whose points
intersect with north, southeast and southwest points of the respective
circle.
• A third circle, of equal diameter to the former circles, overlaps the
middle diamond and the peak of the middle diamond is at the center
of this circle. A vertical line runs down the diameter of this circle so
that a “peace sign” is formed from the circle, the top of the diamond
and the circle’s vertical line.
On a scale of 1-4 rate how confident are you that the
puzzle picture your TEAM drew is correct?
1= not at all confident
2= only a little confident
3= confident
4= very confident
Give yourself a grade…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Not even close!
Pretty bad…lots of differences
Not too bad…just a couple of
differences
Pretty darn close!
Looks exactly like this one.
Give yourself a grade…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Not even close!
Pretty bad…lots of differences
Not too bad…just a couple of differences
Pretty darn close!
Looks exactly like this one.
Why did both confidence and
performance increase on the
team drawing?
Think, Team, Share
How did I structure the team session to insure that
 individuals could reveal their thinking in personally
non-threating ways?
 teams worked together and share ideas.
 teams were motivated to think “deeply” about the
task, and produced a high-quality product?
 individual’s misconceptions were revealed &
corrected
Think, Team, Share
What do these results reveal to us about
how you, as an SI Leader, can best help
students learn difficult course material?